iGaming affiliate Richard Moffat has been a part of the industry since 2002 and is one of the better known UK facing sportsbook affiliates in the business. Richard is the Operators Manager of Online Betting Guide (OLBG), a football and horse racing enthusiast, a blogger, a writer, a husband and father, and one hell of an entertainer.

For the past five years Richard has treated business partners and industry friends to a day at the Sandown horse races, an event that everyone invited raves about…and drinks a lot at! Unfortunately inclement weather resulted in a shutdown of the racetrack for the 2010 gathering, but Richard and team had a nice plan B up their sleeve…an afternoon of eating, drinking and gambling (and interviewing!) at the Palm Beach Casino.

To learn more about why Richard organizes this annual gathering, what OLBG is all about, who makes up the team, and what’s in store for 2011, please enjoy my interview with Richard below.

Becky: Sadly the Sandown races were closed last minute due to snow, but this lunch was a great plan B! Can you tell me the purpose of putting together such a nice annual gathering and who do you invite?

Richard:Yes unfortunately the racing calendar has taken a bit of a bashing! About five years ago we made an attempt to meet up with all our key industry contacts at Sandown, that day just one affiliate manager turned up to see us! Each year it’s grown a bit (fortunately!) and this year, despite the weather, there were around 40 of us. Some people we invite because they have worked hard for us in the past, some work hard for us now, some might work hard for us in the future and some we invite just because we like them!

Becky: I know you’ve got several affiliate sites in your portfolio, but OLBG Sports is one of the biggest. Can you give me the 2 cent explanation of what OLBG Sports is all about?

Richard:OLBG is a bad acronym for Online Betting Guide. It set out in 2002 to be just that but has evolved into a community of sports bettors who work together to help each other to improve their enjoyment of, and success at, sports betting. It has a popular free to enter tipster competition through which we have given away some £140k so far. There is a betting school which is a fun way to learn about betting but you have to pass the exams to move on! The forum is very friendly and packed full of comps and challenges (free with cash prizes of course) as well as some really detailed discussions about the best bets and strategies.

Becky: What other iGaming sites make up your affiliate portfolio?

Richard:ValueChecker affiliates is a tool we have built for webmasters to allow them to add live odds to their sites. It’s as easy as adding a banner but highly customisable so affiliates can choose the bookies, style etc. and they earn through their own affiliate links. Our own odds comparison site ValueChecker combines odds with stats, tools and betting news to help highlight value bets. Then we have more event specific sites such as those for Cheltenham, The Grand National, Euro 2012 and The World Cup.

Becky: What does the Invendium family have up their sleeve for 2011?

Richard:We have some really exciting plans but sorry I can’t tell you about them just yet! At the same time we want to make sure that we are getting the basics right. There will be some serious marketing to make sure that people who will like us have heard about us. We will be continually improving the value we are offering to our members, whilst also working with our key bookmaker partners to improve the value we can deliver for them.

Becky: I hear that you are going to be launching a blog soon, can you tell us more about it?

Richard: It’s live now at blog.invendium.co.uk. A number of our ValueChecker affiliates have been asking our opinion on all sorts of sports betting affiliate matters, so what we want to do is share lots of stats and data, things that have and haven’t worked for us and open it all up for some discussion so we can help each other to improve. Also there are lots of issues in the sports betting affiliate space that people seem too scared to talk about (maybe with the exception of CalvinAyre.com!). So we will be discussing some of the more controversial topics but hopefully without upsetting too many people. Hopefully people in the sports betting affiliate sector will follow the blog and join us for a live version which we will present at LAC at the end of January.

Becky: You’ve just brought some infamous marketing ladies on board, can you tell us who they are, where they come from, and what they will be doing for you?

Richard:Yes, Sinead and Jess from the famous Paddy Power affiliate videos are to be reunited at Invendium! Sinead joined us last year and immediately got stuck into improving our key marketing ahead of the World Cup. Jess will be building on that when she starts this month, whilst Sinead will be spending more time on making sure that every sports site in the World has our ValueChecker affiliate odds boxes on it!

Becky: I recall an article you wrote for Egaming Review which attracted quite a few comments- “Don’t blame the affiliate”. Why aren’t a lot of operators seeing a great value in their affiliate marketing as a whole these days?

Richard: Most are. Those who have understood affiliates and been focused on ROI right from the start are seeing great value as are those who have such great products that getting it wrong hasn’t effected them so much. It’s those who have used affiliates purely to build acquisition numbers, regardless of what those accounts are worth, which unsurprisingly aren’t seeing great value from the affiliate channel as a whole. Hopefully, rather than just write it off, they will understand why and start getting it right.

Becky: What’s the best way to reach you for blogging or advertising opps?

Richard:The best way to get in touch with me or any of the team is via the company site.

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The Ayre Media Group is based in Antigua in the West Indies with teams in London, Manila and Vancouver covering the global gambling industry.Along with ensuring fair coverage of the gambling industry we highlight the great work of the Calvin Ayre Foundation.